Abstract: Apparatus for reinforcing or attaching composite structural materials by chain-stitching. A reciprocating head is powered to alternate between outward and return motions. A needle is mounted for outward and return movement with the head, the needle having a material piercing end and a notch adjacent the material piercing end. A cast off has a first portion configured to overlie the notch, to maintain a thread within a notch, and a second portion configured to expand a loop in the thread on release of the thread from the notch. The needle pierces the material on outward motion of the head and withdraws through the material, with the thread in the needle notch, during the return motion of the head. The cast off first portion overlies the needle notch during a part of the needle return movement and moves in trailing relation to the needle during a part of the needle outward movement. A pressure foot may also be commonly driven, with the needle and cast off, by the head.

Abstract: Three-dimensional thick fabrics are made from a laminate of fabric plies by first inserting pointed rods through the laminate to form rows of holes after which needles are reciprocated through the different holes to pull loops of various yarns through the holes. The loops of yarns in adjacent holes are interlocked to hold the plies together. A guide releasably clamped to each yarn controls tension in the yarn while a doffing point is employed to insure that the needle passes through a loop just formed when penetrating the next hole to insure interlock of the loops. Hollow circular objects are formed by winding a length of fabric a selected number of times around a form, following which the pointed rods are used to form holes in the resulting laminate with the needles and yarns being used to form the interlocking loops through the thickness of the laminate.

Abstract: An amusement device for looping yarn onto a flexible plastic framework consisting of a housing provided with a platform and a rotatably mounted handle, an advancing mechanism for sequentially gripping the frame and moving same forwardly along the platform, a needle operable in conjunction with a cam-like mechanism for rotating and reciprocating the needle in a predetermined sequence to progressively loop yarn along rows of filaments within the frame, a mechanical interface for operating both the feed mechanism and the needle in response to rotation of the handle, and a guide mechanism for moving the frame along the platform to permit knitting along a different row of filaments of the frame.